Vending-machine.



A. D GROVER 51 E. E. BARBER.

VENDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED IULIYZI, 1912.

1,287,294, Patented Dec. 10,1918.

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UNITED szrnarns BAIENT- OFFICE.

ALBERT 1). GROVER, F 'MALDEmnNn EARL BARBER, or. BosroN, MASSAC USETTS, ASSIGNORS, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, T0 AUTOSALES CORPORATION, A ooRPoRA-.

TION or NEW YORK.

VENDING-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Original application filed December 15, 1911, Serial No. 666,006. Divided and this application filed July-27, 1912. Serial No. 711,796.

adapted to be operated upon the depositionof a coin for the delivery of a suitable commodity, and has for its general object the.-

provision of a machine which may beadjustedat will to operate with or without the deposition of a coin. Referring'more particularly to the embodiment-shown in the" drawings for-the sake of illustratin-g the principle of our-unventi'on, wehave provided ane ector mechanism WhlCh Isl 101- mally held against operation by a locking:

member. When a coin is deposited, thelocking member is forced into releasing or inoperative position, and the ejector mechanism is free to complete its stroke of op' eration. To render the ejector mechanism operable Without the deposition of acoin, we have provided separate means'for mov ing the locking member into releasing ;po-

sition, so that the machine will operate asa free dispenser In the embodiment, we-

have shown, this separate means is in the form of a key-controlled releasing bolt, but

it is obvious that it may 'be' modified in many ways to accomplish the same purpose.

The desirability of a vending machinewhich may be regulated at will by the mere turning of a key, or otherwise, to act either" as a coin-controlled vending machine-or as a; free dispenser, may arise in various situa-. tions. For instance, a machine containing our invention will find ready application onthe cars of a railway train which runs in its course through several States, in all of which the use of public drinking cups on trains is prohibited by legislation, and some of l which the railroad company is compelled bylaw to furnish patronsiree of charge with individual drinking cups.

When the train passes through those States in which-the: company is not obliged-:to furnish patrons;

free-with individual drinking cups, our machine may be so setas to operate only upon Patented Dec, '10, 1191's,;

the-deposition of a coin. However, assoonas the train enters a Statein which the law requires the railroad company to provide the travelers with individual cups free of charge, the conductor or other ofiicial adj usts the machine to operate without the requirement ot-a coin. The-advantages of our invention W111 thus be apparent.

This application is a division 'ofour ap-fi plication, Serial No. 666,O06 filed December 15, 1911. o

Referring to the accompanying drawings, I

Figure'l is a: sectional bottom plan view of a machine embodying our invention, thesec tion'being taken substantially on? line '-1'-1 of Fig. 2, the parts being shown in normal or unoperatedposition; and j r Fig. 2 is a vertical section on-line 2-:-2

of Fig.1, the parts being shown in operated position.

In the particular form of machine shown.

in the drawings, the difierent parts which H go to make up the ejector mechanism are:

carried by a main casting or s'upportjindi cated as a whole by A. This casting or support comprises a body portion 1 whichter minates at its front end in'a rounded platform 2. The body portion l -is provided-- with upwardly extending side flanges 3 and rear flange 4 between which thexmagazine 5 --isrigidly secured-by means of j rivets-,- screws or pins 6,"or:any other suitable man-1" ner. The magazine 5 is preferably made of sheet metal and is of proper size to accommodate the vendable articles in a verti cal stack. For the sake of illustrationwe have shown a vendible article B in Fig. 2 1

videdat the bottom with a delivery slot' 8 through whichthe articles areejected.

The operating mechanism for causingv the ejection of the articles may bezof any suitable form or type;

of a flatplate arrangedto slide at the bot- In a the a machine: 'illustrated in the'dr'aw-ings, the ej-ect0r'9 consists tom'of the'magazine and having at its rear end an upstanding lug 10 adapted to engage the. lowermost article-in the stack"=farfd't-force" nected with the coin slide 11 by means of a block 12 which operates in the slot 13 formed in the casting A, the parts being connected together by screws or rivets 14, or in any other suitable manner. The coin slide 11, which operates beneath the casting A, is provided with a coin opening 15 which is normally in alinement with the coin opening 16 formed in the shell 2 of the main casting or support A. The coin slide 11 is provided with a pair of downwardly extending lugs 17 between which is pivoted the front end of the connecting link 18 by means of the pin 19. The rear end of the link 18 is pivotally connected with the upper end of the arm 20 by means of the pin 21. The lower end of the arm 20 is pivotally mounted on the pin or lug 22 carried by the lower end of the depending bracket 23, which is secured to the under side of the casting A, as by screws 24. The ejector mechanism is operated by 'means of the plunger rod 25 which is at its rear end pivotally connected with the arm 20 by means of the pin 26. The plunger rod 20 passes at its forward end through an opening in the frame C which is secured to the underside of the main casting in any suitable manner, as by means of screws 27. Frame C is provided with a pair of rearwardly extending portions 28 and 29 between which the coin slide 11 is movably mounted. The frame G is sufliciently spaced from the main cast ing A, as indicated at 30, to provide free and easy movement for the coin slide 11. A spring 31 secured at its rear end to the arm 20 and at its forward end to the frame C, normally holds the operating plunger 25 and the connected ejector in the position shown in Fig. 1. By having the point of connection 26 between the plunger 25 and the arm 20 substantially midway of the latter, the stroke of the ejector slide 11 is substantially twice that of the push rod. The push rod need therefore be operated only a slight amount to effect the ejection of the articles.

,The extension 28 of the frame C is pro; vided with a downwardly projecting hearing lug 32 which supports one end of the shaft 33. The other end of the shaft is nonrotatably supported in the downwardly extending flange 34 provided on the extension 29 of the frame C. The shaft 33 is provided with a flattened portion 35 which works in a vertical slot (not shown) in the bearing flange 34. The object of this connection between the shaft 33 and the bearing flange 34 is to hold the shaft against rotation and at the same time permit that end of the shaft to move vertically for a purpose to be presently explained. On the shaft 33 is rotatably mounted a sleeve 36 which carries at its outer end a sprocket wheel 37 and at its inner end a coin-testing arm 38. The free or outer end of the arm 38 is so shaped as to form points 39 and 40 which, are adapted to engage the deposited coin and test the same. This coin-testing devicedoes not, in and of itself, form part of our present invention, it being the subject matter of Patent No. 625,123, granted May 16, 1899 to J. G. W. Romans and A. D. Grover, as their joint invention. As we have shown the machine in the accompanying drawings equipped with this Romans & Grover cointesting device, we will describe the same for the sake of giving a complete description of what the drawings show. The sprocket wheel 37 is arranged to engage with the teeth 41 formed at one edge of the coin slide 11,' as best shown in Fig. 1. lVhenever, therefore, the coin slide is operated, the sleeve 36 is rotated together with the coin-. testing arm 38. v A locking dog 42 is at 43 pivoted to the flange 34 of the frame C. The rear end of the locking dog is provided with a hooked portion 44 which normally lies in the path of movement of the lug 45, extending laterally from the coin slide 11, as shown in Fig. 1. A suitably-arranged spring holds the locking dog 42 in the path of the lug 45. As shown in Fig. 1, the lug 45 is normally at some distance in front of hooked portion 44 of the locking dog, so that the coin slide is normally free to move inwardly until the lateral lug 45 engages the locking dog. Although the ejector 9 is always operated during the free movement of the coin slide 11, as just described, this movement of the ejector is what may properly be termed an inoperative or ineffective movement, because the ejector is not moved back sufficiently to cause the upright lug 10 to engage the mouth of the lowermost article. The purpose of this normally free movement of the parts is to give the coin-testing device a chance to test the deposited coin. Although the operation of this device is fully described in the Romans & Grover patent above mentioned, the same may here be briefly stated as follows: In the normal position of the different parts which constitute the operating mechanism, as shown in the drawings, the coin slot 15 provided at the forward end of the coin slide 11, is in alinement with the entrance slot 16 in the rounded shelf 2 of the main casting The coin-testing arm 38 normally occupies substantially the position shown in the full lines of Fig. 1 and in dotted lines of Fig. 2. The deposited coin, substantially I filling the slot 15, rests on the forward extension 46 of the frame C. As the rod 25 is then pushed inwardly, the coin is carried -:on by the slide 11. At the same time-the path of the laterallug 45 on thecoin slide 11. As the rod 29 is pushed in farther, the

point 40 of the coin-testing arm 38 bears against the under surface of the coin after the point 39 has passed out of engagement therewith. This holds the locking dog 42 in depressed or releasing position until the lateral shoulder 47 on the coin slide 11 has passed the free end of the locking dog. Should the deposited check be a washer, the point 40 of the coin-testing arm would enter the opening of the washer after the point 39 had passed out of engagement with the edge of the washer, whereby the locking dog 42 would rise into locking position to engage with the shoulder 47. This would lock the coin slide against further movement.

It will, of course, be understood that we have here shown and described the cointesting device of the Romans & Grover patent merely for the sake of illustration, and that so far as the principle of our invention is concerned, any suitable coin-testing device and any suitable ejecting mechanism may be employed, provided the device which normally locks the ejector mechanism against operation is capable of being moved into releasing position through the medium of the deposited coin.

We will now describe a preferred form of means for moving the locking dog 42 into releasing position otherwise than throu h the medium of-a deposited coin, so that me machine may operate without the deposition of a coin. A bell crank 48 is pivoted at 49 to the extension 50 on the flange 34 of the frame C. The upwardly-extending rear arm of the bell crank is provided with a lateral lug 51 which extends over the locking dog 42 near the free end thereof. asbcst shown in Fig. 2. The free end of the forwardly extending arm of the bell crank 48 is arranged over the bolt 52 of a suitable lock L secured to the inside of the coin box 53. This coin box also acts as a housing for inclosing the parts projecting beneath the casting and is removably supported therefrom by means of lugs 54 and 55. The lugs 54 are carried by the downwardly extending flange 56 at the rear of the casting and enter corresponding open- -ings in the coin box 53. The lugs 55 are carried onthe front ,wallgof the coin box 53 and enter corresponding openingsin the frame C. lVhenthe bolt; of the lock L is in withdrawn position, the bell crank 48 :does not in the leastinterfere' with the operation of the machine upon the deposition of a coin, as previously described in detail. The lateral lug 51 of the bell crank simply rests by gravity on the locking dog- 42.

-Whenit is desired to operate the machine without the deposition of a coin, thebolt 52 is thrown upwardly by means of a key f inserted'in'the lock L. This upward movement of the bolt 52 throws the forward end of the bell crank 48 upwardly and the rear end downwardly As the lateral lug 51 lies over the locking dog 42, this rocking of the bell crank by the bolt 52 throws the free end of the locking dog downwardly out of the path of movement of the. lateral lug 45 and shoulder 4-9 on the coin slide 11. This operated position of the bell crank and locking dog is shown in Fig. 2. The locking dog 42 being thus rocked into inoperative position, the ejector 9 is free to operate to the limit of its inward movement to eject the articles from the magazine, in exactly the same way as when the machine is operated upon the deposition of a coin. To adjust the machine for operation with a coin only, it is but necessary to turn the key in the lock L to withdraw the bolt 52. If our machine is used on a train, the key to the lock L would be in the custody of the conductor or other official. It will be understood that the means for adjusting the mechanism of" the machine to permit its operation without, or only upon, the deposition of a coin, need not be key-controlled, although the use of a key makes the adjustment an extremely simple matter. While we have herein shown and described a specific form of machine embodying the principle of our invention, we would have it understood that We do not intend to be limited to any of the details of such specific form, as it is obvious that the idea of our invention may be mechanically carried out in a number of ways.

Having thus described our invention,

what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is:

1. In a vending machine provided with coin-controlled pawl 'for normally holding said ejector locked against movement, and

an independent arm adapted to be actuated by a key tomove said pawl into releasing position, said arm being retained in its actuated position, so that said ejector is free to be operated Without the deposition of a coin.

2. In a vending machine provided With amagazine for containing the vendible artieles, the combination of an ejector adapted to eject said articles from the magazine, mechanism for operating said ejector through the medium of acoin, an independent arm adapted to adjust said mechanism into position to cause operation of said ejector Without the medium of a coin, and

Copies of this patent may be obtained for an adjustable element associated With said arm for actuating the same, said element being operable from the outside of the machine by a key and adapted to remain in operated position. 7'

In Witness whereof, We hereunto subscribe our names, this 5th day of July, 1912.

ALBERT D. GROVERp EARL E. BARBER; Witnesses JOHN G. Bownns, JESSIE C. LITTLE.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington. D. 0. 

